The 2002 Pulitzer Prize Winners

Investigative Reporting

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For a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series, Seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500).

Awarded to Sari Horwitz, Scott Higham and Sarah Cohen of The Washington Post for a series that exposed the District of Columbia's role in the neglect and death of 229 children placed in protective care between 1993 and 2000, which prompted an overhaul of the city's child welfare system.

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in this category were: Dayton Daily News Staff for its ambitious global examination of the ethical issues surrounding the recruiting of foreign athletes for American schools, Duff Wilson and David Heath of The Seattle Times for a penetrating investigation of a local cancer research center, reporting that some patients who died in two failed clinical trials were deprived of essential information about the trials' risks, and were given drugs in which the center and its doctors had a financial interest, and Craig Whitlock, David S. Fallis and April Witt of The Washington Post for two series that documented systematic abuses, including excessive shootings and questionable murder confessions, in the Prince George's County police department.